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I have read the newbies posts. Thank you for all this helpful factual info. So I am now about to submit may acknowlegement for the claim received from Northampton County Court. I will follow advice a defend in full.

I would appreciate any help I can get at this stage.

the facts:

A member of my family, not me the registered keeper, parked into a private car park managed by Minster Baywatch.

This was not intentional as the car park in in front of shop we normally go to. However now there an APR. So we got the intial letter. We appeal directly to MBW. Of course to no avail. We felt the fine was actually too high in principle. At this stage we made an offer for about half the amount.
This as rejected. ( kept all correspondance)

We did not apply to POPLA ( maybe we should have..).

This moved on to Gladstone solicitors. Again responded to LBC. Also made a second offer to MBW.
Letter simply saying that I should now only deal with Gladstone.

No further letter from gladstone but we got the Claim from court in Nothampton.

I have again contacted Gladstone to see if we could make an out court settlement, ( recorded delivery), no reply by so far but it as been a few days.

As time is against me and I have to respond to court I will not wait further.

I went back to car park. Yes there signs, stating this is a private car park.

I want to build my defence on the fact that you cannot read them from a distance ( at least the bit about fine cost). Also when you enter the private car park the sign is on the left side not in front. The sign that is in front against a wall, because the wall is not higher than 6ft the sign is easily hidden by tall cars such as MPV.

Finally if you enter the car park and park on right hand side the there are not any signs directly above those bays. Those are the actual bays closer to the shop.

What were the facts of the case. Was it Pay & Display and the driver didn't pay

..Or was it permit only and there was no permit

.. and how long was the driver there.

These are simple cases which turn on the facts of the event.

Idiots please note: If you intend NOT to read the information on the Notice of Allocation and hand a simple win to the knuckle dragging ex-clampers, then don't waste people's time with questions on a claim you'll not defend.

Hi,I have just received a court claim from Gladstone too.I actually purchased a parking ticket for £12 in Blackpool over a year ago.I put it on my dashboard but it must have slipped down to the bottom of the windscreen where the attendant couldn't read it properly.Anyway I received a parking charge notice,we appealed this by sending a photocopy of my ticket purchased.This was completely ignored and months went by then I received a demand for £100 now not £60 anymore,we ignored this and six months later received a letter before claim from Gladstone.We sent them a photocopy of the original valid ticket purchased and a letter saying what we had done appealing the first ticket which was ignored,anyway months later we now have the court claim and havn't a clue where we stand and what to do ,any advice anyone,Dave.

Hi,I have just received a court claim from Gladstone too.I actually purchased a parking ticket for £12 in Blackpool over a year ago.I put it on my dashboard but it must have slipped down to the bottom of the windscreen where the attendant couldn't read it properly.Anyway I received a parking charge notice,we appealed this by sending a photocopy of my ticket purchased.This was completely ignored and months went by then I received a demand for £100 now not £60 anymore,we ignored this and six months later received a letter before claim from Gladstone.We sent them a photocopy of the original valid ticket purchased and a letter saying what we had done appealing the first ticket which was ignored,anyway months later we now have the court claim and havn't a clue where we stand and what to do ,any advice anyone,Dave.

I have read the following on the forum, should I do the same thing too ?

“

Writing to Gladstones denying any debt and requesting proof
means just that. It will delay matters and as it is only 21 days
before new court rules comes into place, by the time
they respond new rules will apply and they will have hoops
to go through which are not applicable now

Thank you Quentin, yes I did follow the template to the letter. I gather I needed reassurance. It is all good.
Would it be worth sending Gladstone and SAR ? I do not even want to give them a tenner ( fee) after having been treated with such disdain..

The claim is denied in its entirety except where explicitly
admitted here. I assert that I am not liable to the Claimant for
the sum claimed, or any amount at all, for the following reasons:

The claimant insists that an enforceable contract has been
created due to signage at the site in question. The signage is
not clearly visible, and therefore an enforceable contract
does not and has not existed. The problems with this signage are
detailed below.

1 When facing the entrance of the site in question, the entrance sign does not face the car it is almost parallel to the car.

2 The entrance sign is not higher than 2ft.

3 The entrance sign is on the left hand side and not visible by the driver because it is too low down.

4 Once in the car park the first sign facing the driver is against a low wall delimiting the car park, at best only part of the sign is visible when a small car parked at worse none the sign is visible when a higher car is parked.

5 if parking to right hand side of car park, nearest to main shopping street there are no signs whatsoever, there are however other signs of parking on left hand side further away form main street.
I would also like to point out that the Claimant's solicitors,
Gladstone Solicitors, have failed to abide by Practice Direction
for Pre-Action Conduct (paras 13-16), by failing to respond to my
letter sent in response to their Letter Before Claim within the
deadline stipulated in my letter (14 days). An amended copy of which was also sent Minster Baywatch, which containing an offer of settlement.
With the above, I feel it is clear that the signage the Claimant
attempted to use to enforce a contract that is not clearly visible.It is clear that
the Claimant has failed in their responsibility to the public and
the landowner to provide clear signage if they wish to impose such
terms and conditions on members of the public. As such, I am not
liable for any sum or amount claimed by the Claimant. I therefore
request the court to strike out the claim as having no basis.

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